UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF SCIENCES

Academic Unit IV
Bachelor of Engineering
(Computer Science & Engineering)
Biology For Engineers
21SZ148

By
Dr. Devinder Kaur

DISCOVER . LEARN . EMPOWER

 Course Objective
• This subject is designed to impart
fundamental knowledge on basic
and emerging fields of biology
like bioinformatics.

• It is designed to impart
knowledge that how to apply
basics of biology in engineering.
https://images.app.goo.gl/pfWfHfCFP56qo7wC7
 Course Outcome
CO
Title Level
Number
Identify the biological concepts from an Remember
CO1
engineering perspective.  
Development of artificial systems mimicking Understand
CO2
human action.  
Explain the basic of genetics that helps to identify
CO3 Understand
and formulate problems

Apply knowledge of measurement system,

biomedical recording system and biosensors to Understand
CO4
excel in areas such as entrepreneurship,  
medicine, government, and education.
Will be covered in this lecture
Integrate biological principles for developing next
CO5
generation technologies https://images.app.goo.gl/5obqqxo93P2UBmdU6
 SYLLABUS
Unit-2 Biosensors and measurement system Contact Hours: 15
Chapter 1 Medical Instrumentation: Sources of biomedical Signals, Basic medical
Medical Instrumentation system, Performance requirements of medical Instrumentation
Instrumentation System, Microprocessors in Medical instruments, PC base medical Instruments,
General constraints in the design of medical Instrumentation system, Regulation
of Medical Devices.
Chapter 2 Measurement System: Specification of instruments, Statics & Dynamic
Measurement characteristics of medical instruments, Classification of errors. Statistical analysis,
Reliability, Accuracy, Fidelity, Speed of responses, Linearization of technique, and
System Data Acquisition System.
Biological sensors: Sensors/ receptors in the human body, basic organization of
Chapter 3 the nervous system- neural mechanism, Chemoreceptor: hot and cold receptors,
sensors for smell, sound, vision, Ion exchange membrane electrodes, enzyme,
Biological glucose sensors, immunosensors, & biosensors & applications of biosensors.
Sensor
 
 Biological Sensors
 Sensors/ receptors in the human body
 Chemoreceptor: sensors for smell and taste
 Photoreceptor: vision
 Mechanoreceptor: hot and cold receptors, sound

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 What are sensory receptors?

• Structures that are specialized to

respond to the changes (stimuli) in the
environment.
• Sensory receptors in periphery detects
the stimuli.
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 Sensory Receptors

• The human body can achieve an understanding of

the world through its Sensory/Receptor systems.
• A major role of sensory receptors is to help us
learn about the environment around us, or about
the state of our internal environment.
• Different types of stimuli from varying sources are
received and changed into the electrochemical
signals of the nervous system.
• This process is called sensory transduction.
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 Sensors provide information to make
decisions: from stimulus to response
stimulus > sensor > coordinator > effector > response
touch > pain receptor > nervous system > muscle > movement
 The sequence of steps above describes what happens when you
touch something hot—the stimulus is touch, the sensor is the
temperature receptor on your finger that senses it and relays it to
the nervous system (spinal cord and brain), which is the
coordinator.
The skin in your
 The coordinator makes the decision of how to react, and then fingers contains
commands the hand muscles (the effector) to jerk back quickly. millions of sensitive
nerve endings that
can detect stimuli
 In summary: We go from stimulus (touch) to response (physical quantities)
such as temperature.
(movement of hand).

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 Sensory input

Sensor Integration

Motor output

Effector Peripheral nervous Central nervous

system (PNS) system (CNS)

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 Sensory Input
• Sensors:
Detect Changes in environmental conditions
Use Receptor Cells

• Transduction
• Conversion of environmental change into an electrical signal
• Receptor responds to stimulus by releasing neurotransmitter
to a neuron
• Neuron sends message to brain to be interpreted

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 Sensation
• Humans can perceive various types of sensations, and with this information, our
motor movement is determined.
• We become aware of the world by way of sensation.
• Sensations can also be protective to the body, by registering environmental cold or
warm, and painful needle prick, for example.
• From the soft touch of the child to the painful punch of a boxer, all the daily activities
carry associations with sensations.
• Sensation refers to our ability to detect or sense the physical qualities of
our environment
• Broadly, these sensations can classify into two categories.
• First, general sensations which include touch, pain, temperature, proprioception,
and pressure.
• Vision, hearing, taste, and smell are special senses which convey sensations to the
brain through cranial nerves
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 Human Sensors
 Your sensory organs (eyes, ears, nose and skin) provide information to your brain so that it
can make decisions. They work in a manner similar to the working of robot sensors.
 Your brain continuously uses the information that it receives from your sensory organs to
make your body function.
 Five main human senses:
• Your eyes allow you to see the world
• Your ears allow you to hear sounds
• Your skin lets you feel objects through touch
• Your nose lets you smell the many scents in the world
• Your tongue lets you taste
 Plus additional sensors in our bodies that you do not notice directly:
• Sensors in the inner ear give the brain information about balance
• Sensors in muscles let the brain know body position
• Sensors throughout the body that detect temperature
• and others…
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Sensory Organs:
Window of the brain

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 Sensory Receptors

• Sensory systems are widespread throughout the body

including those that detect the world directly from the
outside (exteroreceptors), those that detect information
from internal organs and processes (interoceptors), and
those detecting sense of position and load (proprioception).
• Sensory receptors occur in specialized organs such as the
eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, as well as internal organs.
• Each receptor type conveys a distinct sensory modality to
integrate into a single perceptual frame eventually. 
• This information is achieved by the conversion of energy into
an electrical signal by specialized mechanisms. 
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 Types of Environmental Stimuli

Chemoreception
Photoreception
Mechanoreception

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 CHEMORECEPTION
• Detection of chemical types and concentrations
• Receptors for chemoreception are called Chemoreceptors
Types of chemoreceptors:
1. Taste Receptors
– Detects chemicals dissolved in water within the mouth
2. Smell- Olfactory Receptors
– Sense chemicals in the air
3. Osmoreceptors
• An osmoreceptor is a sensory receptor primarily found in the hypothalamus of most
homeothermic organisms that detects changes in osmotic pressure.
• Osmoreceptors can be found in several structures, including two of the circumventricular
organs – the vascular organ of the lamina terminalis, and the subfornical organ.

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 CHEMORECEPTORS

• A chemoreceptor, also known as chemosensor, is a

specialized sensory receptor cell which transduces a chemical substance
to generate a biological signal.

• This signal may be in the form of an action potential, if the

chemoreceptor is a neuron, or in the form of a neurotransmitter that can
activate a nerve fiber if the chemoreceptor is a specialized cell, such
as taste receptors, or an internal peripheral chemoreceptor, such as
the carotid bodies. 
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 Olfactory Receptors
(Distance Receptors)
• The organ of smell is the olfactory organ
• Detects/Responds chemicals in the air
• Olfactory receptors are located in the nose
• Consists of nerve cells that have tiny hairs on the surface
• Stimulated by odorants; inhaled chemicals
• Signals are transferred to the first-order neuron of
olfactory pathway

Olfactory receptors Impulse fired

Animal and sent to the
respond to
Breathes molecules brain for
interpretation

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 Smell: How do we smell using our noses?
 Small particles of almost
everything around us can be found
in the air.
 These particles enter the nose
when you breathe in and contact
nerve endings in the upper nasal
passage.
 The nerve endings send signals
through the nervous system to the
brain, which identifies the smell.
Humans can distinguish between hundreds of
different smells.
Dogs can distinguish between thousands.
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 Smell: How many sensors do our noses
have?
 The roof of the nasal cavity has olfactory epithelium at the back. 
 The olfactory epithelium (about the size of a quarter) contains special
receptors that are sensitive to odor molecules that travel through the air. 
 These receptors/neurons are very small. At least 10 million of them are in
your nose! 
 These neurons respond differently to different odors, and the signals are
sent via to the olfactory nerve to the olfactory bulb, which is in front of your
brain, just above the nasal cavity.
 Signals are sent from the olfactory bulb to other parts of the brain to be
interpreted as a smell you may recognize.
 Humans can distinguish between 10,000 different smells! Dogs have a much better sense
of smell than humans. This is because they have 220 million smell receptors, and their
olfactory epithelium is about the size of a saucer!
The neurons in your nose convert/transduce the smell into electrical
impulses, and send them along the olfactory nerve and olfactory bulb
(similar to wires) to various parts of your brain.
 Taste Receptors
(Taste Buds)
• GUSTATION: SENSE OF TASTE
• Allows to detect and identify
dissolved chemicals
• Chemicals known as tastants
stimulate them
• Pits found on upper surface of the
tongue consist of sensory cells
(taste buds)
• Every sensory/receptor cell has a
tiny hair called a gustatory
hair/microvilli, that project into the
saliva
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 Taste: How do we taste using our tongues?
The tongue has sensory receptors called taste buds present all over
the tongue, which can detect 5 different flavors: sweet, salty, bitter,
sour, umami
The umami flavor is present in many protein foods,
such as meats, cheeses, tomatoes, and mushrooms, and
is generally described as a savory, meaty taste.
 Taste buds are comprised of gustatory receptor cells that have
tiny hairs that detect taste from the food you eat.
 The hairs send information to the cells, which send signals
through the nervous system to the brain, which interprets the
information as taste.

What is the difference between taste and flavor?

Flavor includes taste, but also a little more. It comprises taste, smell, texture, and other
sensations such as pain from spicy food.
Eating food with your nose blocked shows decreases its flavor, even though the taste is the
same 22
Taste: How many sensors do our tongues have?
 Taste receptors are complicated, and scientists are continuing to
investigate to completely understand our tongues.
 We know that we can sense five different types of tastes—sweet, salty,
bitter, sour and umami—but it is not clear how our tongue distinguishes
between them.
 It is believed that we have about 50 to 100 receptor cells per taste.
 The olfactory bulb integrates inputs from all the receptor cells, and then
sends the information to the brain.

The receptors on a human tongue convert/transduce taste into electrical

impulses, and send them along the olfactory nerve to the olfactory bulb and
various parts of the brain.

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 Taste Buds: Respond to any one of five
primary tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, or
umami (savory, glutamate detection)

Gustatory Receptors:
Electrical signal
stimulate release of
neurotransmitter
molecules that bind to Food Particles:
gustatory receptors on Chemicals come
dendrites of taste into contact with
buds’ first-order the gustatory hair
neurons receptors

Sensory Nerves: send

messages along to the
brain
Flavors are then interpreted by brain
 Osmoreceptors
• Peripheral chemoreceptors located in the heart convey messages
to the central nervous system about chemical levels in the blood,
including oxygen and carbon dioxide.

• Central chemoreceptors, located in the respiratory center at the

base of your brain, monitor the levels of carbon dioxide and oxygen
by detecting changes in the pH levels of the cerebral spinal fluid.
• If, for example, your oxygen levels are too low, your central and
peripheral chemoreceptors convey a message that triggers an
increase in respiration.

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 PHOTORECEPTION
(VISION)
• Perception of electromagnetic radiation
• Animals are only able to use the visible portion (400-700 nm) of the
electromagnetic spectrum
• Reception of visual signals
• Light enters the eye
• Specialized cells, photoreceptors, stimulated by particles of light
• Three layers: Photoreceptor layer, bipolar cell layer, and ganglion cell layer
• Two types of cells in photoreceptor layer:
• Rods (allow us to see shades of gray in dim light, like moonlight)
• Cones (stimulated by brighter light- highly acute, color vision)
• Stimulation of photoreceptors
• Photopigment absorbs light ; undergo change in structure to adjust to amount
of light available
• Color perception: Brain compares outputs of different photoreceptor types. 26
Vision: How does the brain understand what we see?
1.Light (stimulus) from the object enters
the eye.
2.Light sensors convert (transduce) light
into an electrical signal.
3.This electrical signal passes through
the optic nerve to the lateral geniculate
nucleus (LGN), which relays the
information to the visual cortex.
4.The visual cortex processes this
information and “recognizes” the object
seen.

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 Vision: How many light sensors do we have?
The cells in your eye that respond to light (that is, the sensors themselves)
are called rods and cones.
 Rods cannot distinguish colors, but are responsible for low-light black-
and-white vision.
 Cones are responsible for color vision. 

Millions of rods and cones are present in each of your eyes, and they send
their signals to the visual cortex of your brain.
 The visual cortex integrates the signals from the rods and cones and
assembles the “picture” of the object in your brain, similar to how a
camera assembles the various bits of an object into a picture of the entire
object.
The rods and cones convert/transduce light energy into electrical energy,
and send the energy along the optic nerve (similar to wires) to the visual
cortex of your brain. 28
 MECHANORECEPTION
• Mechanoreceptors
• Detection of Mechanical Energy and Force

– Tactile (touch and pressure)

– Equilibrium (gravity and acceleration)

– Vibrations (sound)

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 Tactile
(Touch)
• Touch is an important sense because it
provides important information about:
• Proximity of food
• Predators
• Environmental features
• Tactile Sensations (Mechanoreceptors)
• Touch, pressure, vibration
• Detected by encapsulated nerve
endings
• Itch and tickle
• Detected by free nerve endings
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 Sensory receptors in the skin and subcutaneous layer

• Meissner corpuscles (Corpuscles

of touch)
• Pacinian corpuscles (Lamellated
corpuscles)
• Ruffini corpuscles (Type II
cutaneous mechanoreceptors)
• Merkel Disks (Type I cutaneous
mechanoreceptors)
• Hair Root Plexuses
• Free nerve Endings

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 General senses in the skin
Pain Receptor

Cold
Temperature Touch Receptor
Receptor

Touch Receptor

Pressure Receptor
 Tactile Sensations (Mechanoreceptors)
• Touch
• Rapidly adapting touch receptors:
• Corpuscles of touch (Meissner corpulses)
• Hair root plexuses
• Slowly adapting touch receptors:
• Type I cutaneous mechanoreceptors (Merkel disks)
• Type II cutaneous mechanoreceptors (Ruffini corpulses)
• Pressure and Vibration
• Pressure is a sustained sensation felt over a larger area than touch
• Pressure receptors:: Type I mechanoreceptors and lamellated (pacinian) corpulses
• Lower frequency vibrations: corpulses of touch
• Higher frequency vibrations: lamellated corpulses
• Itch and tickle
• Itch sensations stimulated by stimulation of free nerve endings by certain chemicals
like bradykinin, often a result of local inflammatory response 33
 Baroreceptors
• Baroreceptors are specialized mechanoreceptors in the walls of blood vessels,
to sense pressure changes by responding to change in the tension of the
arterial wall.
• Their function is to sense pressure changes by responding to change in the
tension of the arterial wall. The baroreflex mechanism is a fast response to
changes in blood pressure.
• They are located on both arteries and veins.
• Blood pressure is constantly monitored by baroreceptors, as they detect
changes in your blood pressure.
• If the blood pressure within the aorta or carotid sinus increases, the walls of the
arteries stretch and stimulate increased activity within the baroreceptors.
• They communicate to the brain whether blood pressure is too low or high, so
that the brain can adjust the blood flow accordingly.
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 Thermoreceptors
(Thermal Sensations )
• Thermoreceptors: free nerve endings
• Thermal sensations: coldness and warmth
• Temperatures between 10 and 40C (50-
105F)
• activate cold receptors
• located in the epidermis
• Temperatures between 32 and 48C (90-
118F)
• activate warm receptors
• located in the dermis
• Below 10C and above 48C stimulate
• Nociceptors
• produce painful sensations
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 Nociceptors
(Painful Sensations)
• Nociceptors: free nerve endings
• Responds to damaging or potentially • Referred pain: pain felt in skin
damaging stimuli by sending “possible above or located near but not in
threat” signals to the spinal cord and the organ
brain
• Fast pain: within 0.1 seconds of
• Five stimuli that can cause pain:
stimulus; acute, sharp, or prickling
• Excessive stimulus of sensory receptors pain; localized not in deep tissue
• Bright light in your eyes
• Slow pain: begins a second or more
• Excessive stretching of structure
after stimulus is applied; chronic
• Prolonged muscle contractions burning, aching, throbbing; skin
• Hold weight for a long time deep tissue and internal organs
• Inadequate blood flow to organ
• Certain chemical substances 36
 Proprioceptors
(Proprioceptive Sensations)
• Inform you consciously and unconsciously of
• Degree to which your muscles are contracted
• Amount of tension present in your tendons
• Positions of your joints
• Orientation of your head
• Receptors for these sensations called:
• Proprioceptors and are located in:
• Skeletal muscles, tendons, in and around synovial joints, and inside inner
ear
• They adapt slowly and only slightly
• Kinesthesia: perception of body movements, allows you to walk, type, or dress
without using your eyes
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 Equilibrium: Hair Cells
• Proprioceptors: Located deep inside the ear
• They tell you if your head is tilted or if you are standing on your head.
(orientation relative to gravity)
• Vibrations bend “hairs” (stereocilia)
• Alters release of neurotransmitter to sensory neurons sent to the brain
 Physiology of Equilibrium
• Static Equilibrium
• Maintenance of the position of the body relative to the force of
gravity
• Maintains posture and balance by providing sensory
information on the position of the head
• Dynamic Equilibrium
• Maintenance of body position in response to sudden
movements such as rotation, acceleration, and deceleration
• Re-establish balance to disturbed equilibrium by regulating
sensitivity of hair cells in the ear

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 Vibration
(Sound)
• Vertebrate Cochlea
• Elongate structure
containing hair cells
• Fluid pressure waves induce
vibration of the basilar
membrane
• Stimulates hair cells which
triggers electrical impulses
to the brain.

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 What is sound?
• Oscillation of air pressure is felt by humans as sound.
• When air is pushed repeatedly, as by a speaker diaphragm, it creates what
we call a sound wave.
• Sound is a mechanical wave: Your ears can detect these waves
• Changes in air pressure (vibrations) produce the movement of air
particles.
• These particles start bumping into the other air particles, and this
causes a wave that travels in all directions.

The mechanical energy in the wave is sensed by our ears

and converted to electrical energy, which is transmitted
to the auditory cortex, and our brain recognizes this as
sound.
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 Sound: How do your ears work?
• First the outer ear collects the sound waves then the sound
enters the ear canal and causes the eardrum to vibrate.
• Eardrum vibrations are carried through the hammer, anvil, and
stirrup of the ear to a fluid-filled structure called the cochlea.
• Different pitches range from low (such as from drums) to high
(such as from bells) causing different parts of the fluid in the
cochlea to vibrate.
• When cochlear fluid vibrates, it moves hairs connected to nerve
cells, which send signals to the brain through the auditory
nerve.
• The brain helps you recognize the sound (for example, music).
• The neurons in your ear convert/transduce sound into
electrical impulses, and send them along the auditory nerve
(similar to wires) to the auditory cortex in your brain.
• This is similar to how a microphone assembles all the signals of
sound and relays it forward.
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Passage of Sound through the Ear
 REFERENCES

• C.B. Powar, 2010.Cell Biology. 5th Ed, Himalyan Publishing House.

• Jeremy M. Berg, John L. Tymoczko and Lubert Stryer. 2006. “Biochemistry,” 6th Ed. W.H.
Freeman and Co. Ltd.
• Robert Weaver. 2012 “Molecular Biology,” 5th Edition, MCGraw-Hill.
• Jon Cooper, , 2004. “Biosensors A Practical Approach” Bellwether Books.
• Martin Alexander, 1994 “Biodegradation and Bioremediation,” Academic Press.
• D. Albe-Fessard et. al. Handbook of Sensory Physiology. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-65438-1;
ISBN: 978-3-642-65440-4
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK547656/

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THANK YOU

For queries
Email: [email protected]